Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-09
time the superintendent had ever been on

time the superintendent had ever been on
my train, and Of course 1 was ANXIOUS to
sustain my good reputation. But the
fstes were against mean hour late, the
night dark and stormy, and our regular
running time between forty and fifty miles
an hour. Well, we pulled out of the station
with my mind made up to reach
our destination on time if the wheels
would stay under her. As soon as we
were out of the city limits l opened on
all the steam she had and let her go.
But she didn't seem to move at half her
usual speed, and then she didn't make
steam well, either. l began to be i'm
patient, and scolded the tiremen for not
doing good work with his fire. He
seemed to try his best, but it was no go.
She would not steam well, in
spite of his exertions. Then the
pumps began to be troublesome.
One of them stopped working alto
gether, and the other became more un-
reliable every minute. 1t began to dawn
upon me that making up time was out OF
the question.
"You may imagine my feelings, for it
seemed to me as if my whole reputation
was staked on this trip. l profess TO
know my business pretty well and can
get speed out of an engine if any man can,
end my heart was down below zero when
we began to drop behind our regular
running time. But it was no use. Every
thing was against me. L was mad clear
through.
"When we LETT Station b we we're
one hour and ten minutes late, and the
conductor had Just made remark that
nettled me quite little. | mad asked
him if there were any orders at Station
D.. He answered, None, except to
try to get there in time for dinner, which
was pure sarcasm, for if we made
our running time we would be
there in time for breakfast. Well,
my heart was clear down in
my boots, aud when l shut off
the steam going into Station B l
found the water so low in the boiler that
something had to be done for the pumps
before we could leave that station, as
there was then heavy grade to climb
for several miles. l informed the con-
ductor that we would be delayed fifteen
or twenty minutes with the work of TAX
ing down one of the pumps, and then pro-
ceeded with the work.
again when | heard the sharp whistle of
an engine, and looking up saw train
approaching from the very direction in
which we were going. When the train
pulled into the station we found that the
telegraph operator at Station D. had
neglected to give US meeting orders for
this train. Had it not been for the pumps
we would have dashed on to what would
probably have been one of the most ter
rible collisions in the history OF railroads.
Snow comes the remarkable
paIt of the story. From
the time we left Station B
both pumps worked like charm-bear in
mind that had found nothing whatever
the matter with the pump that had taken
down, as there was apparently no reason
for it not working-and the old engine
seemed to dart along with twice her usual
speed. Gradually she began to pick up
the time again, and in the next fifty miles
we had made up fifteen minutes, whirh
was lightning speed in those days. There
was Just nineteen minutes to make the
last twenty miles in, and l need not say
that we pulled into our destination on
time.
"Here, indeed, was an instance of
cranky engine saving a collision that
would probably have resulted in great
loss of human life and property. Rail
reading is full of just such experiences,
and have had many OF them which might
interest you, but 1 do not recall any of
them Just now. Speaking of the peculi-
arities of engineers, it is not best for me
to say much, for l am queer sort of q
fellow myself. But there is one engineer
running on this road now who thinks his
engine can feel, for when she doesn't run
fast enough to please him he beats her
with hammer"